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I have been invited to a face-to-face interview at a company. Before going, I am "obliged" to sign an NDA. This is the private sector and an entertainment company.

Why on Earth would I go into such a legal contract when I have no working relationship with a company?

If they are uncertain about the information they divulge during a job interview, does not that tell unpleasant tales of their organizational and "hush hush" structure?

I have never encountered this before and would like to hear your input.

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    Hopefully you aren't "obliged" to attend to that job interview.
    – 27096
    Aug 13, 2019 at 9:45
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    Suppose, for example, that this company is Disney and they want to hire you as an animator for movies. Maybe they want to show you their ideas for their latest film and they don't want the plot leaked yet. I wouldn't consider this "hush hush" structure to be "unpleasant".
    – James
    Aug 13, 2019 at 11:26
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    Most often, this is because they consider that their trick interview questions are the best trick interview questions in the industry. If you tell others that they use Fizz-Buzz then their whole hiring strategy is ruined. It is unlikely you will learn anything of business value in the interview.
    – emory
    Aug 13, 2019 at 19:08

2 Answers 2

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The company is placing a condition on offering you an interview, namely that you agree in writing not to use or divulge any information you may learn during the interview process. Legally speaking, this is no different from insisting that you must pay your own expenses of attending; if you feel it is an unreasonable condition, you should decline the interview, which will save you from working for a company with 'unpleasant tales of their organizational structure' and the company from interviewing somebody who does not share their view of how much secrecy is necessary.

If you do decline, you are of course free to post your experience and views of the company publicly; you will not have any possibly confidential information to share.

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Nobody forces you to go to the interview. Asking you to sign an NDA before entering their premises is totally legal and can be very reasonable. If you are hired to work on a new product, that competitors would love to hear about, an NDA for the interview would be expected.

If you asked on workplace.stackexchange I’d recommend to apply elsewhere. Here I’ll say “totally legal”.

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